Off Plan Property in turkey

B

Biddy May

Guest
Hi,
Has anybody bought off plan property in Alanya Turkey. Do you think it would be a good investment
 
A few years ago I remember hearing that Warren Buffet was thinking of setting up a helpline for those thinking of investing in the airline business.

The helpline was basically just an an answering machine with the message "Dont do it, Dont do it, Don't do it, Don't do it...."

I think this helpline could equally be used by people looking to invest in Turkey, Bulgaria and other far flung destinations,that they know nothing about. People are investing with their hearts not their heads, and will be guided by smooth talking salesmen who will promise them exactly what they want to hear and will turn their back on them as soon as they have their money.

We assume that estate agents in this Country are for the most part telling us the truth. they may embellish it a bit (or maybe a lot) but at least we can see use our own eyes and ears to see past what we are being told to believe. We canot make the same assumptions about properties being sold abroad and we have no comeback on them.

If I was going to invest a year of my salary,or a couple of years salary, in one of these locations I'd want spend a lot of time there first, to make sure that I wasn't putting money into something that was just going to keep on eating it and never give me anywhere near the return that the commission driven estate agent was promising.

Would I be right in thinking that a lot of people investing in these countries are novice investors. They don't understand the language, the culture, the legal system and most importantly what the locals can and will pay to rent these investments. They don't ask hard questions and then demand proof from the estate agents that the answere they are getting is the truth.

It's all very well to know that you can rent me your place over there for E200 pw, if its going to cost me over E500 at a minimum for each member of my family to travel there, and they are in a different time zone, with food I am not familiar with, where very few people speak english and if things go wrong I'm going to have an awful lot of trouble finding someone that can help me. I may look somewhere more convienient and nearer.

Are there any regular direct flights from Ireland to Turkey with a low cost airline. If not does that means that i have to fly to a UK airport and connect from there. What happens if I miss my connection. Is my whole holiday down the pan? What happens if the low cost carrier decides not to fly to that particular destination, how easy will it be to get there then.

For Western Europe these questions are easily answered, for the newer parts of Europe or places that are not in the EU and may never be, the answers may not be what you want to hear.

If your estate agent tells you that you can easily look to rent your appartment for 30 weeks per year then go to one of the owners rental sites and look at the availability of similar properties and see what the actual position on the ground is. You can rent anywhere for the first two weeks in Aug. After that it's a different matter. Then go the site Weather.com and key in the nearest big town and look at the annual monthly temperatures. Is the winter 9 months long? Who in their right mind is going to want to go on a sun holiday there. If the place is vacant it's costing you money, servicing the debt and the local service charges etc





Murt
 
Spot on Murt. Was very seriously considering Alanya myself. Alanya is ok for weather and food etc but outside of the summer season its hard work to travel to. flight to Istanbul and 2nd flight to Antalya. that internal flight is adding to the cost and time and then there's the added journey travelling to Alanya itself a further 50 miles away. with no public transport from the airport ( though you can book a transfer from one of the companies who provide such services - again another cost factor) There are flights to Antalya in the Summer but its a very captive market so no cheapies. the upside is that property tax /services etc are very low in Turkey compared with Spain/Portugal/France.
 
Murt,
As Mr. Keane has already said, excellent post. I've been living here in Turkey for two years now, can't really add much more except a few comments.

Alanya has been popular with Irish investors in recent years, it's a bit off the beaten track with the nearest airport in Antalya. No direct (scheduled) flights from Ireland, except the summer charters available and all year round flights via UK. Weather is pleasant all year round unlike other resorts like Kusadasci, Marmaris and Bodrum that more or less close down for the winter.

One thing i've learned since I've come here is, to buy what the locals buy, then you have something to sell and someone to sell it to when you want to move on. Buying a property built solely for the overseas investor just ties you into re-selling it to another overseas investor in the future.

One guy on this forum was being quoted 15% commission to re-sell a property in Bodrum. That's a big chunk out of your profit. The going rate is 3% and almost no one pays that, they haggle it down to maybe 2% depending on the property price. Personally, I've turned down a few "good" deals in the last 12 months.

IMHO, if you want to invest in Turkey, find a nice appartment in a good area of Istanbul, the city is just booming right now. Just make sure the building is earthquake proof.

hope this helps,
 
agree with the last post.
as a turk living and working in ireland, sometimes friends ask for advice and i always tell them not to invest in seaside resorts in turkey. invest in big cities like istanbul and ankara and you could get good rental yield over the year, not just for half of the year and also good capital appreciation. for this though u need local knowledge as well as trusthworthy estate agent. you can arrange with estate agents there with an asking price for letting and tell the agebt to keep the rest of the money if he/she can get more.
 
I have bought off plan and have since taken possession of a villa near Alanya.....I should however point out that I do not see it as an investment. Biddy PM me if you want more detail.
 
Murt,

Excellent post !. Why don't people do the most basic research before they come on here and ask advice, never mind buy ?.

Biddy May, did you do any research. other than read the agent's glossy brochure ?.

I go to Turkey on holiday every year, and every time I see the same unsold properties (some from 5 years ago !), with more added to the unsold list each time. Hotels and packages are cheap, why buy ?.

It seems to me there is a mindset amongst some 'investors' that the further away, the more obscure the law, the stranger the language, the more difficult to access, the more attractive the investment !!!.

A quick scan shows that people have been badly burned in Eastern Europe, and the red lights are flashing for Dubai, Turkey, Cape Verde and Morocco.
 
i think that one problem Irish investors have in relation to buying property is that people got used to offering more than the asking price and getting into a bidding war, or just buying off-plans.

for turkey I can say that never offer the asking price. Especially if you are brought there by an agent offer 20 per cent less. even when you find a place where you think the price is good do not offer the asking price, cash is stillking in turkey and you can do a good deal with upfront cash payments

Also if you are serious about it go and look around the area, go and have a look at the prices on the estate agents windows. one thing estate agents can't do is to have different prices for locals and foreigners on their windows.
 
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